Monthly Archive: March 2017

“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.”

And

“I wear black because I’m comfortable in it. But then in the summertime when it’s hot I’m comfortable in light blue.”

And

“God’s the final judge for Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash too. That’s solely in the hands of God.”

And

“I read novels but I also read the Bible. And study it, you know? And the more I learn, the more excited I get.”

And

“Success is having to worry about every damn thing in the world, except money.”

And

“How well I have learned that there is no fence to sit on between heaven and hell. There is a deep, wide gulf, a chasm, and in that chasm is no place for any man.”

“Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight.”

And

“The things that have always been important: to be a good man, to try to live my life the way God would have me, to turn it over to Him that His will might be worked in my life, to do my work without looking back, to give it all I’ve got, and to take pride in my work as an honest performer.”

And

“My father was a man of love. He always loved me to death. He worked hard in the fields, but my father never hit me. Never. I don’t ever remember a really cross, unkind word from my father.”

And

“I love to go to the studio and stay there 10 or 12 hours a day. I love it. What is it? I don’t know. It’s life.”

And

“Of emotions, of love, of breakup, of love and hate and death and dying, mama, apple pie, and the whole thing. It covers a lot of territory, country music does.”

And

“You’ve got to know your limitations. I don’t know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren’t too many limitations, if I did it my way.”

And

“You’ve got a song you’re singing from your gut, you want that audience to feel it in their gut. And you’ve got to make them think that you’re one of them sitting out there with them too. They’ve got to be able to relate to what you’re doing.”

And

“That was the big thing when I was growing up, singing on the radio. The extent of my dream was to sing on the radio station in Memphis. Even when I got out of the Air Force in 1954, I came right back to Memphis and started knocking on doors at the radio station.”

And

“You can ask the people around me. I don’t give up. I don’t give up… and it’s not out of frustration and desperation that I say I don’t give up. I don’t give up because I don’t give up. I don’t believe in it.”

And

“Be thankful for the time you have.”

And

“Johnny Cash is a two-word answer for why it’s still good to be an American.” Rosanne Cash on her father Johnny Cash

…a fairly well-known former head coach in college football rang-up the CHS red phone this week and said about the above post:

“Something you learn as a coach is that when you have everything organized and ready to go for the team the players sense that the head coach and his assistant coaches have their Shit together and that gives the players confidence that the coaches know what the Hell are doing which is a big part of building that positive feedback loop. The assistant coaches see that the head coach has his Shit together which gives them confidence, the players see the head coach and assistant coaches have their Shit together which gives them confidence, and all that confidence pays huge dividends when things start getting tough in close games.”

Amen to that and the above observation goes right to something that a few of us here at Coaches Hot Seat witnessed personally in the US Navy one more than one occasion when our commanding officer was replaced by another commanding officer, and each time that happened the new CO brought with him his own management style to the ship and crew and in short order the entire crew made a determination if the new CO knew what the Hell he was doing or not and either added or lost confidence in the CO and the other officers on the ship. Now in most situations in peacetime a crew losing confidence in the commanding officer of an US Navy ship is no big deal, but in something like Desert Storm which a few of us went through the change of command in a CO was a HUGE deal and luckily for us was a very positive change for the ship and crew!

Any fans of great movies certainly know the movie The Caine Mutiny when the officers of an US Navy ship confront the captain of the ship played by Humphrey Bogart who is clearly losing his mind and thus putting the ship and its crew at risk:

Lesson from the Caine Mutiny for head football coaches:

Get and Keep Your Shit Together!

#5 Hot Seat Head Coach, Jim Mora, UCLA

Many years ago a Coaches Hot Seat member got a great lesson in working with someone that remains with him to this day that is an important thing in writing about the situation that Jim Mora now finds himself in at UCLA.

That Coaches Hot Seat member has told a simple story many times that when he was working in Manhattan for a large bank that he over time got into a bad working relationship with a younger person that worked for him and their relationship got so bad that the younger person (and valuable employee) left the company to work for another bank. Shortly after the younger person had left the bank after six-plus months of turmoil in the workplace an older executive at the bank called the CHS member into his office and told him this:

“Just a piece of advice as you learn how to manage people in the real world. There are always going to be lots of disagreements on all kinds of different things in any office, but what you should keep in your mind when reacting to those disagreements is this…think about how you would be viewed if you happened to see one of the people now working for you 20 years from now on the street. Would that person be happy to see you, would they want to have a drink with you to catch up with old times, would they want to have dinner to talk about what has been going on with their life? If not, then you have turned a common workplace disagreement into something much worse that will have forever broken the relationship between two people and that is something you must avoid at all costs. There is nothing wrong with setting clear goals and holding people accountable in the office, but disagreements in the workplace must be dealt with in clear ways by a manager…by a leader….because if they are not it causes all kinds of discord that makes the office an unenjoyable and unproductive place to work.”

The Coaches Hot Seat member then says that when he held in his mind when considering the people he was managing that he might see one of these people on the street 20 years from now and that he would want that person to have a positive memory of the CHS member his entire management approach changed which he says almost overnight immediately improved the atmosphere and more importantly the productivity of the office.

What does the above story have to do with UCLA head coach Jim Mora you ask?

Jim Mora needs to take the advice of the older gentleman above and manage his coaches, support staff and players at UCLA as people in such a way that 20 years from now on the street they will want to stop, chat, have a drink or maybe have dinner to catch up on old times as opposed to way that Jim Mora is now managing the UCLA coaches, support staff and players which in our opinion has set the Bruins football team up for disaster and failure.

Let’s look at Jim Mora’s win/loss records at UCLA:

2012: 9 – 42013: 10 – 32014: 10 – 32015: 8 – 42016: 4 – 8

Overall: 41 – 24

Pac-12: 25 – 20

Now since we are talking about UCLA football which has only a marginal history in college football compared to a powerhouse program like UCLA, the above Jim Mora records are not bad per se, but they are trending in the wrong direction and another losing record for the Bruins in 2017 will put the folks in Westwood in a Helluva interesting spot since Mora would have a…

Damn! There is a chance that if UCLA starts slow in 2017 that they could easily be…

0 – 5 or 1 – 4

…heading to Arizona on October 14 which would put a tremendous amount of heat on Jim Mora and UCLA AD Dan Guerrero, but let’s give the Bruins some benefit of the doubt that they will play decent football this coming season and come up with some predicted records for 2017:

Overall: 6 – 6

Pac 12: 3 – 6

Now if we had to predict a worse case total Armageddon scenario for Jim Mora and the UCLA Bruins in 2017 their record COULD easily be overall….

4 – 8

Would Jim Mora lose his job as the head coach of the UCLA Bruins if he posted a second consecutive record of 4 – 8 in 2017?

No UCLA head football coach in the post World War II era has survived to coach a third season after posting two straight losing seasons and more often than not UCLA head coaches posting .500 records for two consecutive seasons…

“And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department.”

And

“Concentration is my motto – first honesty, then industry, then concentration.”

And

“Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.”

And

“Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself.”

And

“He that cannot reason is a fool. He that will not is a bigot. He that dare not is a slave.”

And

“I shall argue that strong men, conversely, know when to compromise and that all principles can be compromised to serve a greater principle.”

And

“Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.”

And

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.”

And

“People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.”

And

“The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.”

And

“The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.”

And

“The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.”

And

“There is little success where there is little laughter.”

And

“There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else.”

And

“Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!”

And

“You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb.”

And

“You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best.”

“The game of life is a lot like football. You have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity. “

And

“The public, more often than not, will forgive mistakes, but it will not forgive trying to wriggle and weasel out of one.”

And

“You call to a dog and a dog will break its neck to get to you. Dogs just want to please. Call to a cat and its attitude is, ‘What’s in it for me?’ “

And

“The only way that I could figure they could improve upon Coca-Cola, one of life’s most delightful elixirs, which studies prove will heal the sick and occasionally raise the dead, is to put rum or bourbon in it.”

And

“Being a newspaper columnist is like being married to a nymphomaniac. It’s great for the first two weeks.”

And

“Baptists never make love standing up. They’re afraid someone might see them and think they’re dancing.”

And

“I have three ex-wives. I can’t remember any of their names, so I just call ’em Plaintiff.”

And

“I know lots of people who are educated far beyond their intelligence.”

And

“In the south there’s a difference between ‘Naked’ and ‘Nekkid.’ ‘Naked’ means you don’t have any clothes on. ‘Nekkid’ means you don’t have any clothes on … and you’re up to somethin’.”

“Real estate agents are God’s plague on mankind when locusts are out of season.”

And

“Women who drink white wine either want to get married, sell you a piece of real estate, or redecorate your house. Either way, it’s expensive.”

And

“Lewis’ advice to Atlantans in case of nuclear war: “If you live on the South side of Atlanta, get on I-75 and go south. If you live of the North side of Atlanta get on I-75 and go north. If you are a Yankee get on 285.” (Note to all you Yankees — I-285 is a continuous loop around the city)”

And

“I get letters from people who say, ‘What have you got against women?’ What could I possibly have against women? I’ve married three of them.”

“My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.”

And

“Where there is no imagination there is no horror.”

And

“It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.”

“Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another.”

And

“I never guess. It is a shocking habit destructive to the logical faculty.”

And

“The lowest and vilest alleys of London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.”

And

“We can’t command our love, but we can our actions.”

And

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.”

And

“I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose.”

And

“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”

And

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

And

“I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children.”

And

“From a drop of water a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other.”

And

“As a rule, said Holmes, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.”

And

“A trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still more so.”

And

“His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge.”

And

“The ideal reasoner, he remarked, would, when he had once been shown a single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which would follow from it.”

And

“When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge.”

And

“The most difficult crime to track is the one which is purposeless.”

And

“Our ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature.”

And

“The highest morality may prove also to be the highest wisdom when the half-told story comes to be finished.”

And

“I should dearly love that the world should be ever so little better for my presence. Even on this small stage we have our two sides, and something might be done by throwing all one’s weight on the scale of breadth, tolerance, charity, temperance, peace, and kindliness to man and beast. We can’t all strike very big blows, and even the little ones count for something.”

And

“The more we progress the more we tend to progress. We advance not in arithmetical but in geometrical progression. We draw compound interest on the whole capital of knowledge and virtue which has been accumulated since the dawning of time. Some eighty thousand years are supposed to have existed between paleolithic and neolithic man. Yet in all that time he only learned to grind his flint stones instead of chipping them. But within our father’s lives what changes have there not been? The railway and the telegraph, chloroform and applied electricity. Ten years now go further than a thousand then, not so much on account of our finer intellects as because the light we have shows us the way to more. Primeval man stumbled along with peering eyes, and slow, uncertain footsteps. Now we walk briskly towards our unknown goal.”

And

“What can we know? What are we all? Poor silly half-brained things peering out at the infinite, with the aspirations of angels and the instincts of beasts.”

Before we get to the #4 Coach on the Coaches Hot Seat Rankings heading into the 2017 college football season…

Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M

…we first must relate the findings of some research we have been doing into great coaches in all sports which has produced a data point on something we have thought to be true for years, but was confirmed with hard data in the last month or so.

Coaches Hot Seat is now heading towards its 11 th year of covering the Great Game of College Football, and during the last ten seasons and for years beforehand a few of us at CHS have been collecting quotes, antidotes, stories and other information about great coaches in sport over the past 100 years plus in America. We have all of this data within Microsoft Word in 1,000-plus files and last December we started going through all that data and organizing it so we could begin to run keyword searches to see if we could pull-out commonalities among great coaches in the past and present.

Well, we have our first fascinating data point to pass along about what makes great coaches so GREAT and this particular thing is something we have seen over and over again and for some of us, we know of it totally, since it was drilled into our heads from our very first day in the US Navy 25+ years ago.

The first fascinating data point that is common across all GREAT coaches in sport both past and present is:

Attention To Detail!

Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant term for Attention To Detail was attention to “the Little Things” and is summed-up in the below great quote and video from the Bear:

“If you want to coach you have three rules to follow to win. One, surround yourself with people who can’t live without football. I’ve had a lot of them. Two, be able to recognize winners. They come in all forms. And, three, have a plan for everything. A plan for practice, a plan for the game. A plan for being ahead, and a plan for being behind 20-0 at half, with your quarterback hurt and the phones dead, with it raining cats and dogs and no rain gear because the equipment man left it at home.”

John Wooden, who in our minds is with Paul Bryant one of the five greatest coaches in American collegiate sports history had this quote about “Attention to Detail!”

“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”

In the advertising world that several of the founders of Coaches Hot Seat now working the original Mad Man advertising icon David Ogilvy had the below quote about “Attention To Detail!”:

“Leaders grasp nettles.”

What does “nettles” mean exactly from the British born David Ogilvy?

“Leaders grasp DETAILS!”

We could go on for quite awhile passing along quotes about the importance of “Attention To Detail” or as Paul Bryant said, “Talking to you about Little Things as long as you are here,” but the important point is that it’s VITAL for head coaches to focus like a laser beam on all the details that surround the coach in their job if they hope to be a consistent Winner and Great Coach….PERIOD!

The obvious question when understanding the importance of “Attention To Detail” and “the Little Things” is why do coaches who are sometimes paid a Helluva lot of money to create winning teams not putting enough emphasis on organizing as much of the details as possible within their team and the obvious answer to that question is:

They Are Lazy As Hell!

It takes HARD WORK to put a broad focus across a sports team or organization on the thousands of small things that once organized and managed on an ongoing basis create the foundation for building a winning team and the honest and pitiful TRUTH is that many coaches just flat-out…

Do Not Want To Do the Hard Work!

Those coaches would rather be fishing, or playing golf, or watching TV or all-manner of other things with the sometimes enormous amounts of money they are paid instead of doing the HARD WORK that flows from making sure every issue, person and possible eventuality is accounted for within your organization which is best exemplified by the Late Great Bill Walsh:

“For me the starting point for everything – before strategy, tactics, theories, managing, organizing, philosophy, methodology, talent, or experience – is work ethic. Without one of significant magnitude you’re dead in the water, finished. I knew the example I set as head coach would be what others in the organization would recognize as the standard they needed to match (at least, most of them would recognize it). If there is such a thing as a trickle-down effect, that’s it. Your staff sees your devotion to work, their people see them, and on through the organization.”

Why are most of the Top 30 coaches on the Coaches Hot Seat Rankings on the Hot Seat today?

In our opinion because they have not been willing to put in the HARD WORK that is necessary to build a winning football program which does not equal the amount of time you spend in the office, but rather means the amount of time a head coach focuses on…

Attention To Detail

…and focusing on…

The Little Things!

The most ironic thing is after a lifetime of attending college football games going back to the mid-1970s, playing college football, and being around many of the top college football programs of today over the past decade-plus we can tell within just a few minutes of stepping inside a college athletic complex and watching a team practice if a Head Coach is spending enough time on organizing and managing “the Little Things” because it’s quickly obvious whether some things are being missed or if EVERYTHING is being accounted for from the largest to the smallest issue.

In 2008 a couple of Coaches Hot Seat members were in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for about a week on business and to see Alabama practice in the run-up to Bama’s second Spring Game under Nick Saban. We were with a good friend of ours that played for Paul Bryant in the 1970s, and thus we had as much run of the Alabama athletic complex as anyone could get under what is the Uber-organized Nick Saban and what we saw in those few days was fascinating in that EVERYTHING was accounted for within Saban’s program at Alabama which was best summed up by our friend that played for the Bear:

“Saban may be more organized than Coach Bryant and Coach Bryant was the most organized man I have ever known.”

Attention To Detail and a focus on The Little Things…do that and you as a coach and team will WIN…if you know how to coach the X’s and O’s of the game of football mind you!

Now with the above in mind which was written on this day for a very specific reason Aggie fans let’s move to…

Kevin Sumlin has a decent overall record at Texas A&M posting in FIVE seasons on the job in College Station a record of…

44 – 21

….but the REAL problem for Sumlin is his record in SEC Conference play….

21 – 19

….and even more startling at a place like Texas A&M which has EVERYTHING a coach needs to win a Helluva lot of football games is Sumlin’s record against Power Five Conference Schools the last FIVE seasons is…

26 – 21

Oh here’s another important data point in today’s world since teams like Texas A&M have so many cupcakes on their schedule each year….Kevin Sumlin has lost…

21 games

…in FIVE seasons at A&M which works out to an average of…

4.2 losses per season

….but over the past FOUR seasons the Aggies have averaged losing…

4.75 losses per season!

Can you really almost lose 5 games per season and keep your job at Texas A&M?

It seems so and thus why when we think of Texas A&M Athletics the first word that comes to mind is…

AVERAGE!

Oh here’s something else…Texas A&M hasn’t finished the season ranked in the Top 20 the last THREE seasons which leads us to perhaps the most important point of all considering the Aggies went 1 – 4 against the last 5 legitimate football teams it played to end the 2016 season….

Texas A&M Football under Kevin Sumlin has collapsed down the stretch of in each of the past FOUR seasons going….

2013: 3 – 32014: 2 – 42015: 2 – 42016: 1 – 4

Total: 8 – 15

….against the legitimate football in the second-half of the last FOUR years.

What causes the above exactly Aggie Football fans should be asking themselves?

See the introduction to this blog post for an explanation…in our humble opinion!

OK…let’s go to Texas A&M’s 2017 Football Schedule to see if Kevin Sumlin can turn things around in College Station in his SIXTH year on the job which one would think is important since Sumlin is making more than $5 Million Dollars to produce a winning football program and team…

…which if it happened would leave Kevin Sumlin’s record in SEC Conference play after SIX seasons on the job at…

25 – 23

…and if that is acceptable to fans of Aggie Football then as they say in the South…

“God Bless Their Hearts!”

We will leave you with the following….personally we like Kevin Sumlin having talked to the guy a few times over the years and from that it’s our opinion Sumlin is a good guy who works hard at his job, but if we had to put a number on what the level of organization and how close that Sumlin and his coaches pay “Attention To Detail” within the Aggies Football program using the benchmark of Nick Saban and Alabama which is…

100% organized

….we would put Sumlin’s organization of Texas A&M Football at around….

70% organized

….and last time we checked at Texas A&M a grade of 70 in the classroom in College Station is barely passing and frankly that’s not acceptable to us…but it might just be acceptable to…

“A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve.”

And

“Every calling is great when greatly pursued.”

And

“Every idea is an incitement… Eloquence may set fire to reason.”

And

“Happiness consists in activity. It is running steam, not a stagnant pool.”

And

“Have the courage to act instead of react.”

And

“I think that, as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived.”

And

“It’s faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living.”

And

“Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.”

And

“Most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but few will use it as a rudder by which to steer.”

And

“One’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”

And

“The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.”

And

“The man who is always worrying about whether or not his soul would be damned generally has a soul that isn’t worth a damn.”

And

“Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.”

And

“Wisdom is the abstract of the past, but beauty is the promise of the future.”

And

“Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend.”

And

“If I were dying, my last words would be, Have faith and pursue the unknown end.”

And

“Get down, you fool!” Assertion famously directed at then-President Abraham Lincoln when he came under enemy fire at Fort Stevens during the American Civil War, as quoted in Team of Rivals : The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

And

“Young man, the secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered that I was not God.”

And

“Free competition is worth more to society than it costs.”

And

“State interference is an evil, where it cannot be shown to be a good.”

And

“To have doubted one’s own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.”

And

“If I were dying, my last words would be, Have faith and pursue the unknown end.”

And

“I happen to prefer champagne to ditchwater, but there is no reason to suppose that the cosmos does.”

And

“That, at any rate, is the theory of our Constitution. It is an experiment, as all life is an experiment.”

And

“Life is a roar of bargain and battle, but in the very heart of it there rises a mystic spiritual tone that gives meaning to the whole. It transmutes the dull details into romance. It reminds us that our only but wholly adequate significance is as parts of the unimaginable whole. It suggests that even while living we are living to ends outside ourselves.”

And

“Life is an end in itself, and the only question as to whether it is worth living is whether you have had enough of it.”

And

“Most of the things we do, we do for no better reason than that our fathers have done them or our neighbors do them, and the same is true of a larger part than what we suspect of what we think.”

And

“Lawyers spend their professional careers shoveling smoke.”

And

“A second class mind, but a first class temperament.” A summation of his opinion of Theodore Roosevelt

And

“A man’s mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.”

And

“I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving – we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.”

1. Put your people first2. Be flexible in tactics3. Choose your people carefully – for character, not just competence4. Sustain optimism in the face of adversity5. Lead by example6. Strive for equal treatment7. Exercise caution in pursuit of the goal8. Balance optimism with realism

“I’ve always been skeptical of people who say they lose themselves in a part. Someone once came up to Spencer Tracy and asked, “Aren’t you tired of always playing Tracy?” Tracy replied, “What am I supposed to do, play Bogart?” You have to develop a style that suits you and pursue it, not just develop a bag of tricks.”

And

“The great thing about the movies … is-you’re giving people little … tiny pieces of time … that they never forget.”

And

“You must be oh-so smart, or oh-so pleasant. For years I was smart. I recommend pleasant…and you may quote me.”

And

“I have my own rules and adhere to them. The rule is simple but inflexible. A James Stewart picture must have two vital ingredients. It will be clean and it will involve the triumph of the underdog over the bully.”

And

“You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth.”

And

“Frank called me one day and said, ‘I have an idea for a movie, why don’t you come over and I’ll tell you?’ So I went over and we sat down and he said, ‘This picture starts in heaven’. That shook me.”

And

“Clarence: You’ve been given a great gift, George: A chance to see what the world would be like without you.” It’s A Wonderful Life

And

“Clarence: You see George, you’ve really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to just throw it away? ” It’s A Wonderful Life

And

“I always told Hitch that it would have been better to put seats around the set and sell tickets.”

And

“I sort of got into Westerns… It was a sort of desperation move, really. I had several pictures that didn’t go very well, and I just realised that I would have to try something else. “

And

“I was going to be an architect. I graduated with a degree in architecture and I had a scholarship to go back to Princeton and get my Masters in architecture. I’d done theatricals in college, but I’d done them because it was fun.”

And

“We had an apartment on west side of Central Park. The rent was very reasonable. We found out later that it belonged to a gangster called Legs Diamond and it was a front to his headquarters. It was fine.”

And

“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”

And

“My mother approved, my father just didn’t accept the idea of my being an actor. I think that’s the reason he kept the hardware store in operation, because I think he was pretty sure that I was going to be found out sooner or later, and he wanted to have a job for me to come back to.”

And

“I think one day you’ll find that you’re the hero you’ve been looking for.” An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

And

“If we don’t try we don’t do. And if we don’t do, what are we on this earth for?” Shenandoah

And

“There’s not much I can tell you about this war. It’s like all wars, I guess. The undertakers are winning.” Shenandoah

And

“Don’t believe everything you hear and only half of what you see.” The Greatest Show on Earth

And

“Liberty is too precious to be buried in books. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say, ‘I’m free.’” Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

And

“He used to say to me, “Have you ever noticed how grateful you are to see daylight again after coming through a long dark tunnel?”…Always try to see life around you as if you’d just come out of a tunnel.” Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

And

“You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money! Well, it doesn’t, Mr. Potter! In the whole vast configuration of things, I’d say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider!” It’s A Wonderful Life

And

“I’ve always been skeptical of people who say they lose themselves in a part. Someone once came up to Spencer Tracy and asked, “Aren’t you tired of always playing Tracy?” Tracy replied, “What am I supposed to do, play Bogart?” You have to develop a style that suits you and pursue it, not just develop a bag of tricks.”

And

“I’d like people to remember me as someone who was good at his job and seemed to mean what he said.”

And

“If a western is a good western, it gives you a sense of that world and some of the qualities those men had – their comradeship, loyalty, and physical courage. The vogue for the new kind of western seems pretty unimportant to me. They try to destroy something that has been vital to people for so long.”

And

“I suppose people can relate to being me, while they dream about being John Wayne.”

And

“I cannot tell you, Mr President, just how happy I am to finally be able to call you my Commander-in-Chief.” — to longtime friend Ronald Reagan, on his inauguration as US President on 1/20/81.

No…you are not going to win a Helluva lot of games giving up over 30 points a game and in the last two seasons Todd Graham has posted a record at Arizona State against Power Five Conference Schools of….

7 – 14

Why you must be asking yourself by now has the Arizona State defense collapsed so the last two seasons which had landed head coach Todd Graham squarely on the Hot Seat? Well, we went back and looked at the Sun Devils defense the last two seasons such as the below 61 – 55 loss in three overtimes to Oregon in 2015…

…and came to the very simple conclusion that the Arizona State defense is…

The Second Most Fundamentally Unsound Defense in FBS Football Behind Texas Tech

That’s not good when one considers that any sorority powder-puff football team’s offense in America could easily hang 50+ points on the Red Raiders defense which means that any sorority powder-puff football team’s offense could easily hang 48+ points on the Sun Devils!

There’s this odd thing about winning football games that Todd Graham doesn’t seem to understand:

If your team isn’t going to bother to tackle anyone on the other team your team is not going to win many games against legitimate football teams Son!

Sorry…there’s not a chance in Hell that Todd Graham will be the head coach at Arizona State by December 15 if the Sun Devils finish 5 – 7 in 2017, which probably means that Graham better Damn find a way to have 6 wins on the board when Arizona comes to Tempe on November 25 which might just be a game where…